Live:Eat: Breathe: Public Relations

Show Biz Expo | Recap

The show biz expo at the Hilton left me feeling that there was something missing.

As far as getting to the location it was rather simple. Since I can get “turned around” quite easily I was pleased that the location was accessible. There was also a street festival going on so that provided some post expo fun.

For the expo it’s self I would give it a grade of a C+ I feel the expo was more geared for actors so as a publicist I had to take a different approach with the expo. As I am fine tuning my networking skills I was able to make the best of the situation but I got there around 2ish and it seemed like most of the exhibitors where already gone or didn’t even show up. I also thought that the space was going to be bigger. But even though it wasn’t there was still a decent number of exhibitors present.

As I mentioned I think this expo was more beneficial for actors a lot of the exhibitors and workshops were geared towards actors. And those there were trying to get the actors to stop by their booths. Another target group were those in the music industry. I think those two groups got the most out of their expo experience.

Some of the exhibitors I wasn’t even sure why they were there because I didn’t see what they had to do with entertainment like there was a company there selling a product to make you eyelashes grow longer and an italian food company that was selling sauce. Those seemed like “filler” exhibitors to me.

One thing that I did pre pay for at the expo was a networking round table option that they had. I wanted to make sure that I took full advantage of the chance to sit down and actually talk to the people who were there. The networking roundtable was a good idea but if it was executed a different way would have been more effective. They basically had you sectioned off in this area and they had 3 different tables set up and each table was supposed to be for a particular industry. It would have helped if they numbered or label the tables. It turned into a free for all a bit. But on the positive it did allow for you to meet various people in sitdown time alloted segment. And these may have been people who you wouldn’t have spoken to while walking around the expo. For example, I met an actor and writer who came all the way from Virgina to the expo and he was telling me how he was really enjoying the experience. I mean you would have too if you came all the way from Virgina.

While walking around the venue I did stop and talk to some of the attendees and see how there were enjoying the event and find out about what they did. I actually saw at one of the booths someone I during my earlier that week at the Inc. magazine and DHL event.

As I checked my email I just received my post event survey, I’ll be sure to send it out. I may attach this post to it as well.

A Dove's Flight

A Dove's Flight is about the life of a 20 something year old publicist working in the industry while maintaining a 9-5. She is also becoming more in tune with other areas of media and branding. This is your destination for insights on PR, industry events, fashion, social media, beauty reviews and non profit brands. Prepare to take flight.